Marcano ends cross country season just shy of state

WALNUT — In the Southern Section cross country finals, Burroughs junior Maryah Marcano was a few seconds away from qualifying for state. Marcano finished 22nd overall in the Division 3 finals on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, and ended the race five seconds shy of advancing.

WALNUT — In the Southern Section cross country finals, Burroughs junior Maryah Marcano was a few seconds away from qualifying for state. Marcano finished 22nd overall in the Division 3 finals on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, and ended the race five seconds shy of advancing.

"In her first time at something like that, to be that competitive and close was quite an accomplishment," Burros head coach Anthony Barnes said. "A lot of those schools and individuals have been there before — to go from never having even qualified for a final to almost making it to state is impressive.

"It was a good way to end the season — it was the closest anyone has come."

Marcano ran the three-mile course in 18:39, eight seconds slower than the school record time for the course she ran in the prelims the previous week. She finished six spots and four seconds behind the last state qualifier from a non-qualifying team, Kelsey Creese of Bonita.

"She was so close in the overall picture of things," Barnes said. "There was a five-second difference between eight places. She would have liked to have done better, but nobody is feeling like it was a bad meet or a bad race."

In the last half of the race, Marcano moved from 35th to her eventual finishing position of 22nd — but that late surge wasn't enough. The junior turned in a solid performance, but didn't deliver the outstanding performance necessary to advance.

"She moved up, but even she knew at that point that it was going to be tough to get all the way back up there — she tried and almost did," Barnes said. "It was a consistent, good performance."

Saturday's race brought an end to Marcano's historic 2013 season. The junior led the Burros to a second-place finish in the Desert Sky League — behind state qualifier Granite Hills — and became the first girl in school history to race in the section finals.

"We're going to take this into track and just try to build on it — there are still some things to develop and work on," Barnes said. "She ran a good race to qualify — now it's a matter of how do you qualify for each level. It's a learning experience and a learning curve."